How to camp with young kids

My wife and I took two kids across the country to camp at North Cascades National Park - and survived! Kidding aside, the trip was hard but it was terrific, special, and full of life-long memories - which you can read about in a companion post here: Moments from North Cascades.

Don’t be afraid to go camping with kids. It was well worth the challenge. Here are some things we learned that we wanted to share with other families like us. I’ve organized our lessons into four categories:

• Tips for when you’re planning your trip

• Tips for when you’re preparing / packing for your trip

• Tips for when you’re on your trip

• Tips for after you return home

Thanks to my wife, Robyn, for adding her reflections into this post!

Our situation and trip

Here’s some context on who we are and the trip we took. Of course, apply our tips with care based on your circumstances.

We’re a family of four and a half. My wife and I, Bo (age 3.5) and Myles (1.5). At the time of our trip my wife was about a trimester into her first pregnancy (hence the “half” kid). We unfortunately had to leave our pup at the kennel. This trip was the first time our boys ever went overnight camping.

Between us, Robyn and I are pretty experienced backcountry campers, we’ve been on two backcountry hikes together and I’ve been on several trips with friends. I don’t think you have to be “experienced’ to have a great trip, we just happen to have a lot of “light” backcountry equipment from trips we took when we didn’t have kids.

For our trip we flew from Detroit to Seattle and then drove to North Cascades National Park in northern Washington. We intended to spend a few days in Seattle before heading to the park, but had to cut our trip short because of logistical reasons. Instead, after landing at SEA-TAC we had a spot of lunch, bought some supplies (camping fuel, food, etc.), and drove straight to the park.

Tips for when you’re planning your trip

The first step is picking a park and making a reservation. Most of this is very easy to research from the comfort of your couch. Here are a few filters to consider when googling and some helpful tools.

• Proximity to a city / airport - we wanted to be within 2-4 hours of a major city for two reasons, we didn’t want to fly across the country and camp for two nights and come home. Since our kids aren’t old enough to be in a tent for a week, we looked for national parks near cities. Luckily, there are plenty. Take a look at a map to get your bearings or google “National Parks within 3 hours of a city” to find blog posts like this one.

• Time of year - with two young kids you want to minimize uncertainty and risk as you’ll have your hands full just taking care of them. Look at the weather for the park at the time of your trip to get an idea of the likely weather. Again, a simple search like, “best time of year to visit North Cascades National Park” or “Weather for North Cascades National Park in August” can help you get some quick tips from fellow travelers.

• “Kid friendly” - Again googling to read posts and reviews is great here. Googling “kid-friendly national parks” or “Kid-friendly activities at North Cascades National Park” will get you plenty of great posts from other adventurous families.

• Recreation.gov - Recreation.gov is a terrific clearing house for all the national parks, forests, lakeshores, etc. If you search for a park on this site, it’ll take you to the appropriate website at the National Park Service or other governmental websites. Each park has a well curated list of activities, travel warnings (like if there are wildfires or other issues going on) and usually have a list of family-friendly activities. Recreation.gov is also how you search for campsites and make actual reservations online. Recreation.gov also has a pretty decent app which you can use to make your search a little more user-friendly. I didn’t realize this until just now, but the National Park Service also has some spify trip planning tools at FindYourPark.com, they even have a neat quiz to help find parks that you might like!

• Finding a reservation - Campsites are reserved quickly at most national parks during peak season, especially at the popular ones. I almost pulled my hair out finding a campsite that worked for us - but you don’t have to! One of my colleagues at work told me about a site that scans for campsite openings / cancellations based on criteria you specify and sends you an SMS alert when an opening is found. He said it worked well for their family and the fee was reasonable (plans start at $10). Check out CampNab for more information. Alternatively, you can google “Underrated National Parks” to minimize your competition for a campsite. Campsites at National Parks can be booked 6 months in advance so plan ahead.

Tips for when you’re preparing / Packing for your trip

• Shop at an outfitter for the big stuff - we have been members at REI for a long time. And we love it. There are plenty of team members at the store that can answer questions (and they don’t make you feel dumb) and everyone there I’ve talked to gives their personal reviews of the equipment available for purchase. Go there, and ask questions to people who do it for a living. As an example, there are a million websites talking about the minimum age for using a sleeping bag and I was confused and scared. Once I got to the store and asked someone, they advised to just wrap our little guy up in blankets or a sleep sack and put him on a sleeping pad to stay warm. Problem solved. We got the easy stuff on REI.com and Amazon.

• Involve the kids when shopping - It would’ve been easier for me to buy everything online or head to REI by myself. But we’re glad we took the kids with us, because our big kid had a blast. He picked out his own socks and some of his clothes and just though REI was the coolest place ever. By being there he started to get excited for the trip and feel invested in the process.

• What to buy - If you’re a seasoned camper, you probably have a solid gear list. If you’re not a huge camper, knowing what you need can be pretty overwhelming. To start, here’s a link to our gear list for our trip. Be sure to also look at the National Park Service website to learn about any special equipment you may need (bear canisters, water management supplies, etc.) for specific parks. And of course, google is your friend.

• Damn this stuff is expensive - Yes, camping gear can be really expensive, especially for your first outing. Two tips of advice here: 1) ask a friend and 2) the stuff lasts for a long time. You know who your friends are who camp. We’re kind of annoying about it, because of how much we love to talk about camping. Ask them for advice (you can also do a lot of googling obviously) and most camping people are more than happy to lend you their gear and show you how to use it. It’s just kind of an unwritten ethos amongst people who camp - we spread the gospel, so to speak. And most of the durable equipment you buy will be built to last, so think of it as a capital investment into equipment with a long useful life.

• Do a dress rehearsal - Our kids slept in a tent for the first time on this trip. We practiced pitching the tent in our backyard which was great to get them used to the idea of a tent and getting comfortable inside it. And, I had to check it was in good working order, anyway. By the time we were done with our “test run” both our boys were so excited about camping. If you have the time, you could also do one night at a nearby state or county park to really do a more realistic dress rehearsal. At a minimum, you can find some trails near your home and go for a long walk to break in the kids’ new gear and get them used to long walks outside.

Tips for when you’re on your trip

• Getting there - A lot of the basics apply here. Pack light. Buy as much as you can locally (food, liquids that can’t be legally carried on planes). Don’t put knives in your carry on. Plan extra time because kids are slow. Pack extra clothes for potty accidents. What really was complicated was how much luggage we had - don’t try to be a pack mule or a hero. Weigh your bags at the house to make sure you don’t have to shuffle supplies across bags. We also rented car seats instead of carrying our own, which was a game changer. In retrospect, I should’ve sprung for a luggage cart at the airport because I had to haul so much stuff and was exhausted before we even got to the park. Make the transit part of your trip simple so you’re not stressed when you’re actually camping.

• Sleep - if you can conquer sleeping in a tent, everything else is easy. Our first night was rough, but here are some techniques that worked:

  • Tent Expectations - Our second night, Robyn had the master stroke of proactively setting expectations for sleeping in the tent. The second night went much better than the first, mostly for that reason. Our kids just needed some calmly communicated structure.

  • Infant warmth - Myles (our 1.5 year old) was too small to have his sleeping bag. It would’ve been a suffocation hazard to put him in one. In lieu of blankets, we put him in a large sleep sack that we had for crib sleep. It kept him warm enough when paired with a sleeping pad underneath him. Don’t skimp on the sleeping pad for anyone - at just about any park the ground will sap heat from you overnight.

  • Separating the kids - At first we thought we’d put the kids between us in the tent: big mistake. Separate them if you can so they don’t egg each other on or have as much of an audience. By a stroke of luck, our oldest had to go potty after about 30 minutes of chaos in the tent, which gave me a chance to rock the baby down without any distractions. Upon Robyn and Bo’s return, Bo realized he lost his audience and was relatively quiet until he fell sleep. Divide and conquer if you need to.

  • Parental bladder management - make sure you hydrate and pee well before bedtime and go one extra time just in case. It is seriously the worst when you have to pee at four in the morning but are afraid to unzip the tent and wake up the kids that you worked so hard to get to bed!

• Potty time - Pack extra clothes, for the trip and in your day pack, for blow outs or accidents. Also, hit the potty at the trailhead (if there is one) before and after every hike. We had to turn around just before we hit the waterfall at the end of a trail because our oldest said, “hey mommy, I need to go potty.” We were so close to the end, too!

• Options for activities - Do your homework in advance and find all the options for short “easy” hikes you can. You know your kids best, so choose the distance and elevation change that makes sense to your family. Be sure to visit the Visitor’s Center and ask the Park Rangers for advice when you arrive. We found it helpful to print off a whole bunch of guides and trail reviews from blog posts we found when searching “family friendly hikes north cascades”, the official NPS website for the park, and from AllTrails.com. We spent breakfast planning the day based on the forecast, what were feeling like doing, and how fatigued everyone was. It helped to have a paper list at hand with 10-20 options to choose from.

• Calorie and water management - When you’re outside, you have to drink and eat a lot more just to be healthy, obviously. I made the mistake of letting the kids drink from a common water bottle, which was a problem because I couldn’t make sure they were hydrating enough. Having their own water bottles would’ve been smarter. Keep a close watch on exactly how much the kids are eating and drinking, because it’s much harder for them to know how much extra they need to consume and for them to verbalize what their body is feeling like. And if they’re not hydrated enough, it can cause crankiness, or worse, cause their behavior to become erratic, which can be dangerous out on the trail. Also, buy lots of trail mix!

• Be brave enough to turn around - We were on a trail, late in the afternoon and the kids didn’t nap well that day. It was hot, and as it turned out, the trail we were on was all uphill. It had a beautiful vista at the end, so we really pushed hard. About halfway up, our kids started to fade. We pressed on for a few minutes, and I quicklyrealized that was a mistake. So we turned around immediately. I was frustrated, but it was the right decision and we wished we had done it sooner. Unlike adults, kids totally shut down when they are sore or tired, instead of just getting cranky and pressing on. Rest and breaks also don’t help them as much. In retrospect that’s obvious, but I forgot. Be brave enough to turn around, even if it means missing the great view at the summit. Because you need to get the kids safely back down to the trailhead, and that’s dangerous if they’re delirious on the trail. Turn around before they meltdown, not after.

• Cooling off - They’re so much excitement and energy and fatigue on a camping trip, which can get kids to a pretty boisterous state of mind. Taking a loop around the campsite 1-1 with a parent was a great strategy that Robyn thought of on the fly. If you need a child to cool off and calm down, taking a lap with them is a great tactic.

• Backup plans - In retrospect, I wish I would’ve had a backup plan, including nearby hotels (in case sleeping in a tent was a big failure), restaurants, supply stores, and medical facilities. Especially with Robyn expecting, it would’ve given me piece of mind to have thought of a plan for “if shit hit the fan.”

• Gear management - Camping requires a lot of stuff, and when you have kids it grows. Have plenty of extra stuff sacks and triage as you go. We found it helpful to separate everyone’s different clothes and laundry in different bags. That made it much easier to keep everything organized and have ready access to what we needed. Our approach was to have two large backpacks with lots of little bags for organization (just like a backpacking trip). We used a large laundry bag / duffel bag and put our tent and sleeping pads inside there with a backpack for the plane, which also helps to keep the gear safe through baggage claim.

Tips for after you return home

• Family Photo / Souvenirs - We took a family photo on our trip and we’re glad we did. We immediately printed a photo upon our return, and it’s already hanging in a frame on our wall. We all get to relive the trip just a little every time we see it. I feel so happy and proud every time I pass it to go upstairs. It could be something other than a photo, like a Christmas ornament, pin, map, or other souvenir. But a tactile or visual reminder made a much bigger emotional connection than I expected. And, it reminds us that we’re adventurers!

• Storytelling - We used the drive back to Seattle to debrief on the trip and ask our sons how they enjoyed it. It was so wonderful to hear how excited our kids were, 10 minutes out of the park our big guy already wanted to come back. We also made it a point to let the kids talk about the trip with friends and family (instead of us just speaking for them). Talking about the trip gave them a sense of pride, and hopefully helps them remember our time there.

• Cleanup - I tried to involve our kids when unpacking from the trip. It gave them another chance to talk about our awesome trip, and it was actually nice having some little hands to help out. And, it was a nice way to introduce them to taking care of gear which is a very important skill for any camper - junior or senior.

• Start planning the next one! - Of course, the trip was really hard but it was so worth it. The time when you’re most excited is when you’re still riding the high of a successful trip. So starting planning right away, and go find your park! You’ll be so glad you did.

Moments from North Cascades

If you get a chance to visit a National Park - even if you’ve never camped before - I really recommend it. Here’s a series of reflections from our recent trip to North Cascades National Park.

If you’ve spent any amount of time hiking and camping these will probably feel familiar to you. If you haven’t been outdoors much before, I hope you find something in these vignettes that will make you want to plan a trip.

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I am angrier now than when we started the day. 

After all the difficulty in getting here - canceling the first few days of our trip because of a Covid exposure, the early flight, the late night packing, and all the frustration I’m already holding in my shoulders because of our daily grind - I wanted to be on the road out of the city already. And yet, the camping store doesn’t have fuel for my backpacking stove. And I feel like I’ve taken every left turn in Seattle to go three blocks. The kids are jet lagged and haven’t napped.

I have spent weeks anticipating the familiar, friendly feeling of hiking boots laced up around my feet, and having my breath taken away by the mountains, lakes, and forests I’ve been reading about. And we’re still hours away.

The drive was more spectacular than I even expected. This is one of my favorite parts of any trip to our country’s National Parks - the approach. I remember the desolate, exhilarating, trek across the Mojave into Death Valley. And the winding approach past Moab, ducking and dodging the towering rock faces into Canyonlands. And my favorite, the most beautiful drive I’ve ever done, through barely touched wilderness into Denali. Getting there is part of the dance, the adventure. It is a chase and a tease, building anticipation the further you go. And as we traverse each mile, the booming mountains and the songs of the whistling trees and lyrical creeks draw us in, luring us more deeply into the Cascades.

It is later than I hoped, but we are here. The tent we tested in our backyard just yesterday is ready for a crisp overnight sleep. We are dressed and have our supplies in the bright green day pack we usually only take to Palmer Park, Belle Isle, or Mayberry State Park, Bo is wearing the bright pink socks he picked out at REI for the trip. Myles is on my back in the baby carrier he’s almost too big for now. We are on foot, trying to salvage our evening with a short hike before dinner. I’m desperate to settle the itch for the trail I’ve had all day. We heard there was a short hike with a vista near the visitors’ center so that’s where we go.

And as we turn the last bend of the boardwalk, we see it - it’s the Pickett Range. Robyn and I see the boys - right as we get the same feeling of awe and wonder ourselves - experience the majesty and beauty of nature for the first time. We all exhale and soak in the full frame we have in front of us. I am starting to cry while I write down this memory, just as I did when we lived it a few days ago.

We just survived our first night in the tent with two kids, barely. We are on the trail for a morning adventure before nap time. I ask Robyn if I can take her picture. I want to remember being here together. I am thinking back to our honeymoon, when we spent 2 days - just us and the trail - at Mammoth Cave National Park before continuing to Nashville. I am grateful for our marriage, our family, and how we’re spreading our love of outdoor adventures to another generation. I always feel whole when we are together, but my cup is especially full as I snap the photo of her.

I did not grow up with siblings. But even though I forget it sometimes, our boys are brothers. I see it with my own eyes, vividly, as they scamper together down the trail hand in hand. I remember back a few days earlier, when Bo asked Myles: “Will you be my best friend?” We will have many moments during our few precious days here, to remind me of something important: this was worth it. All the setbacks, all the discomfort of travel, all the preparation - all of it was worth it for the three days we had. The chance to visit a National Park - the rare gems of our truly beautiful country - is always worth it.

For the first time since we arrived, we turn left out of the campground into State Road 20 - we are heading home. Robyn and I are holding hands as we weave west back to Seattle alongside the Skagit River. Myles points out the window and says his new favorite word, “mountain”. As we talk to Bo about the past 3 days and how we can plan another trip soon, he asks us, “Can we come back to Cascades National Park?” 

Robyn and I smile at each other and I remember something she said a day earlier, after we descended after only making it halfway up the Thunder Knob trail - “we’ll be telling stories about this trip for years.” In that moment I have an uncommon amount of gratitude - for nature, for our family, for our marriage, and for the National Park Service - because I know deeply in my bones that she’s right.